Esol Level 3 For Ilr

[Green19]

My wife has her UK settlement visa having passed her Bulats test with an overall mark of A2 (speaking was B2+, listening B1, reading and writing A2 I think).

The grades are as per European standard of testing languages if I remember correctly, however, for my wife to apply for ILR her English skills need to be at ESOL level 3 or above. I have looked but cannot find where there is information regarding the correlation between the two standards; 7by7, do you know where ESOL level 3 sits with the A1 up to C2 standard?

Another question: By the time we leave to travel to the UK (next April), the TB certificate valid for 6 months will have expired, how relevant is the certificate upon arrival at immigration considering that the settlement visa was successfully approved last month?

Thanks if you can shed some light on these two issues.

[7by7]

I have neither the knowledge nor experience to compare A1 with an ESOL level, I'm afraid.

However, for ILR she does not need ESOL level 3, which is a very high standard, nor even the much lower ESOL entry level 3.

If her standard of English is at ESOL level entry 3 or better then she will be able to understand the study materials for the LitUK test and the test itself and so should follow this route; apart from anything else, it's cheaper!

However, if her English is not good enough for this she can follow the ESOL with citizenship course. All she needs to do here is move up one level. She will be assessed before starting the course, and if, for example, she is assessed at entry level 1 and moves up to entry level 2 then this will satisfy the requirement.

See Knowledge of language and life in the UK for more on this.

Theoretically, as long as the TB certificate was valid when she applied for her visa, that should be fine. In practice? By coincidence, I was talking to a friend about this last night! Her TB certificate was still valid when she arrived in the UK, but she did not have it in her hand luggage. The IO asked for it and when she could not produce it sent her to the medical centre! So she should be prepared for the same.

You say she has her visa already, but is not traveling until April. Did she have the start date of her visa postdated? The visa is valid for 27 months, and she must have been residing in the UK for at least 24 months to be time qualified for ILR. If the visa has not been post dated it will expire before this and she (you) will have to pay for an expensive extention!

[Green19]

Thank you 7by7. Yes we had the visa dated three months in advance (Feb), and would then travel two months later (Apr) giving us 25 months in the UK.

We will be flying from Manila rather than BKK so I'm not sure whether that will have any bearing with the IO at LHR regarding the TB certificate. I dont recall seeing a TB certificate requirement for the visa app in Manila, though I maybe wrong. Maybe better just to get another cert. to be on the safe side.

Thanks for your advice.

[7by7]

The TB cert requirement depends on where the applicant applies for their visa and therefore where they were living at the time, not where they happen to be flying to the UK from.

If she applied in Thailand then she will have needed a TB certificate, I'm not sure about the Philippines.

The Immigration Officer wont really care which flight she arrived on, only, from her visa, that she was granted her visa in Bangkok. So they may want to see a valid certificate and if she doesn't have one may send her to the medical centre before admitting her. Then again, they may not!

I have even heard of people with a valid certificate being sent to the medical centre. I've also heard of people not even being asked for it and allowed straight through.

A bit of a farce, really, as if a TB certificate is required then the visa holder would not have got their visa without one and therefore, in my opinion, this should not be an issue at UK immigration. Though if there is a longish gap between obtaining the certificate and traveling I suppose they could have contracted TB since obtaining it.